Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Blog Stage 4

I've always identified myself as a liberal, but have never
really gotten into government and politics. Because of my ideology I enjoy the
musings of the liberal blog Texas Liberal, and as such selected this article to
investigate.

The article
concerns Houston’s Police Department and their ticketing of people who honked their horn in support of striking janitors. The author of this blog, Neil
Aquino, intends to address all Texans, especially those who share a liberal mindset. He is one of eight political bloggers for the Houston
Chronicle, so he carries an aura of credibility solely from his job. However,
this being an informal blog, no article is of the standards of academia. Aquino argues
that honking a horn in support is a form of free speech, and the ticketing of
these supporters is unconstitutional and a misuse of police power. He cites
that Mayor Parker’s shining achievement in recent months is the criminalization
of sharing food with the homeless in Houston. He ends with a rallying cry, “The
work of freedom is up to each of us,” meaning that it is up to us, the
citizenry, to voice our discontent and regain our freedoms. In an edit, he states
Mayor Parker has voiced her strong support for the striking janitors.

I agree
wholeheartedly with Mr. Aquino. This act is a gross misuse of police power, and
should be condemned. The honking supporters have done nothing dangerous or
detrimental to society, and the police are giving out tickets for this. It’s
almost as if Houston is trying to oppress any dissent within the population,
what seems like a scary start to a dystopian novel. I enjoy his last words
about how the work of freedom is up to each of us, as it encourages the people
to become more politically active and have a say for how they want to be governed.
In a democratic republic, it is important for the people to be able to voice
their opinions, or the government becomes an autocracy. I believe the edit was a good move on the Mayor's part because she realized that her police force was indeed acting out of line, and she stepped in to revitalize her public image.

About Me

I am a mechanical engineering student at the University of Texas. I am taking this class to fulfill the requirements mandated by UT, but I hope to learn a fair amount from this course. I did pretty well (8/10) on the Texas General Knowledge quiz, but poorly (3/10) on the Politics quiz.